UK PM's ex-aide Coulson jailed for 18 months for phone hacking

LONDON, United Kingdom - Andy Coulson, a former editor of the defunct News of the World tabloid and en ex-aide to British Prime Minister David Cameron, was sentenced to 18 months in prison on Friday for his role in a phone-hacking scandal that brought down Rupert Murdoch's newspaper.

A judge at the Old Bailey court in London sentenced Coulson after he was found guilty on June 24 of conspiracy to intercept voicemails for stories in the tabloid following a marathon eight-month trial. Former News of the World news editor Greg Miskiw and chief reporter Neville Thurlbeck were each sentenced to six months imprisonment, while journalist James Weatherup and private detective Glenn Mulcaire received six-month suspended sentences.

The four had all earlier pleaded guilty to phone hacking. Cameron was last week forced to make an embarrassing public apology after the conviction of Coulson, who was his communications director from 2007 until his resignation in 2011.